Sinners are apt to forget Christ in his exalted state; they look rather upon his past life, his low and mean condition, and are fearless of any harm from one so degraded: They slight his threats, and seem to question his ability to execute them, but they will feel the dismal effects of them, to their everlasting confusion.

Introduction

We know little about James Allin (1692-1747) (also spelled “Allen”)—a common name on both sides of the Atlantic—except that he was pastor of the church in Brookline, Massachusetts, and that he preached the election sermon in his colony in 1744. Apparently, this sermon along with another delivered in 1727 is all we have left from his ministry.

The full title of Allin’s election sermon is Magistracy an Institution of Christ Upon the Throne: A sermon preached in the audience of His Excellency William Shirley, Esq; the Honorable His Majesty’s Council and House of Representatives of the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England, on the day of election of counselors for said province.

Isaiah 6:1 is the central text.

Notice a few things about Allin’s argument. After exegeting the text, Allin tells us about the nature and power of the ideal magistrate. There is diversity in the tradition, at least in expression, as to the genesis of government. Would it have necessarily followed from man’s sociable and rational nature, even in paradise? Or, is it necessarily only for lapsarian man? Thomas Aquinas and Richard Baxter take the former view, and John Calvin seems to signal the same. Allin appears more aligned with the latter view or rather is agnostic about what would have occurred or been required pre-fall. But this does not suggest, for Allin, that government is a lamentable development, one to be merely endured by us. Rather, it is a blessing of God and a demonstration of his wise providence. It is not merely a restraining principle, but one of order.

“The wisdom of God thought it highly necessary for man in his apostate condition, whatever it might have been if he had kept his primitive state, and retained his original purity and glory; and therefore, imposed it not as a burden, but a blessing upon mankind; for what is or can be more beneficial to the world?” It is always bad when there is no government, as the book of Judges tell us. “A common-wealth without government is like a body without eyes.” It is not simply that a society without government would degrade into all manner of sin and horror, but that it would be undirected and incomplete. “Nothing is so well suited to the nature and condition of man as authority,” says Allin (quoting Cicero). Government is conducive to and complimentary of man’s nature. Again, although Allin sidesteps the question of how exactly man would have lived in a state of perpetual integrity, he is clear that government is not a reflection of sin, but of God and even of the celestial realm:

“There is doubtless a certain economy in the world above, amongst the bright intelligences that encompass the throne of God, and the Lamb: This seems to be plainly intimated by the distinguishing titles given them of thrones, dominions, angels, arch-angels, cherubim, and seraphim: There is a sort of regimen in the starry regions, in their higher and lower situation and degrees, without which composition, they could not properly be called an army.”

God has mandated order and, yes, government over all his creatures, even those who are unfallen. It is not a illogical or large leap, nor overly speculative, from this conclusion to the one held by those more explicit about pre-fall origins.

What about the form of government? Allin is conventional here. No proscribed form exists even as government itself possesses divine right. Indeed, Allin suggests that the variations of government featured in Old Testament Israel confirms this fact.

“[I]f [God] had preferred any particular form, it is no ways probable that he would have permitted that of the Israelites, his favorite people, to have been so often changed, as we find it was no less than five times: It looks as if these several alterations of their constitution were permitted, on purpose to convince the world that every form was alike indifferent to him; and that he left it to the prudence of every nation to make choice of that, which best suited their own tempers and circumstances, and that if any people sound theirs defective, the fault was their own if it was not reformed.”

Hence, government is a human ordinance not because humans invented the idea or are the source of its power, but because it is congruent with human nature, for human nature, and is determined in form according to human prudence and circumstance. Those who the divine mandate or right of government are, as Allin variously calls them, fanatics or enthusiasts. Today’s extreme libertarians might insist they do not deny government in toto but simply and severely limit it, and are, therefore, not fanatics in this sense. But Allin’s conception of the magistrate’s role would frustrate this maneuver.

Allin invokes the scriptural language wherein magistrates are called gods, and calls them “lights” of the people, “guardians of the nation.” They are also “pilots of the people,” steering the commonwealth toward its proper ends. Great men of courage and wisdom, not just piety, are required for this task—Allin is laudatory in his description of magistrates. Not just anyone can do this job; only men of achievement and vision can. This is no umpire calling balls and strikes according to the agreed upon procedure; this is a captain, a king. Are a lot of ships run like an open forum with a discussion facilitator? Now, to be worthy of his calling, the magistrate must be good and just, and pursue the good of the people, not his private gain. But he does, in no uncertain terms, rule.

Allin goes on to expound these elements and more at lengthy. The sermon is around 15,000 words and worth every bit of your time.

Sermon

In the Year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a Throne, high and lifted up.

‘Tis the just observation of the contemplative Psalmist, that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work; and that the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof, he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Now if God had wisdom to contrive, and power to effect these beautiful globes, he has an indisputable right to the government of them, and is certainly qualified for it: Nor may it be thought, that it does not comport with his majesty, or is an obstruction to his quiet and happiness to concern himself in the government of the world. The notion of Lucretius is contradictory to that idea of the divine being, the oracles of truth furnish us with.

To suppose, that, when he had made the world, he took no further thought or care, but left it to shift for itself, implies one or other of these absurdities, that he either made it for no wise design, or through some mistake in its formation it did not answer his original purpose; like an unskillful artificer, not having framed his work according to the model of it in his own mind, throws it by, and does not care what becomes of it: But as it is a most wise production, that has no blotches or blunders in it, but in all its parts exquisitely done, and every way correspondent to the design in the eternal mind, there can be no reason upon this account why he should not govern it. And then, as he is a most wise agent, and all his works the effects of counsel, and consequently had some wise design in making it, ’tis absolutely necessary for him to govern it, in order to accomplish that design; and how can he act more like himself, and display the glory of his perfections better, than by preserving the several ranks of beings, in that harmonious and admirable order they were placed in at first? or why should it be thought below his dignity to regard the works of his own hands? or can it be any difficulty to an omniscient and omnipotent being to attend such a number of things as the government of the world includes?

To imagine this is to limit the most high, debase his excellencies, and bring him down upon a level with his creatures, and to think that because we find our minds and powers so narrow and limited, that a small number of objects bound our thoughts and cares, therefore the inspection of so many must be a burden to God himself. It becomes us better to confess and adore with the psalmist, than to object against providence, The Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty, he is the king of all the earth. But then, as to the form of that government which he exercises, it is a subject so sublime and mysterious that we can say but little of it; and therefore having asserted that the LORD reigns, he presently adds, that clouds and darkness are round about him. His way is in the sea, his path in the mighty waters, and his footsteps are not known. But tho’, the arcana imperii [i.e., secrets of power] are an height we can’t reach, a depth we can’t fathom, yet we must think there is a great deal of reason and righteousness in them; and that a most beautiful scene would open to us, if we were let into all the secret springs of the divine government, and could trace the various steps and gradation by which every design in accomplished.

Good men, in all ages, have been so well satisfied with the wisdom, goodness and equity of providence, that they have acquiesced in it, rejoiced in tribulation, triumphed when surrounded with greatest dangers, and thick and black clouds have impended over the church or state, and threatened its subversion.

It is from our professed belief of his all-disposing providence, and just sense of our absolute dependance upon it, and of our duty to acknowledge God in all our ways, and implore his direction in an affair of the highest importance, and wherein the interest of the province, both civil and religious, is so nearly concerned, that we are now assembled in this house of worship.

Thanks be to the Lord upon the throne, that our civil liberties granted by the Royal Charter are continued, under the auspicious reign of King George III; and that this day is again revolved upon us, wherein the heads of our tribes, are met together to select and constitute, by the consent of the governor, one main branch of our legislature.

And whereas your Excellency and the honorable Board have called me, however unworthy, to declare the counsels of heaven to you, upon this occasion; stirring up your pure minds, by way of remembrance, I desire to speak with humility and fear, as becomes the oracles of God, and with fidelity to my great Lord and Master, knowing that I must give an account.

When the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a Bush, he said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight; so let us all now turn aside, for a while, and lift up our eyes above the hills, above the firmament, and behold with the wandering prophet the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up.

The prophet Isaiah was of noble birth, of the royal family, and nephew to king Uzziah he here speaks of, as the Jews relate. And he was of a noble spirit, and not exceeded by any that prophesied before, or after him in clearness and abundance of visions, and revelations, especially concerning the Messiah; and in a curious and polite, lofty and majestic stile.

The first words of my text spread a melancholy gloom upon the face of rulers. In the year that king Uzziah died. Tho’ a great man in Israel, and a good man, yet he died. Neither grace nor grandeur can exempt from death. Princes, who are in a qualified sense the breath of a people’s nostrils, derive their breath from God; and when it pleases him, the sovereign arbiter of life, their breath goes forth, they re|turn to the earth, and in that very day their thoughts perish. Whatever distinction God, in his providence, has made betwixt one man and another, in civil respects, they are all in death’s account equal. King Uzziah’s reign was long and prosperous, and Judah was happy under it; but he must not live always: It is the prerogative of him, whom the prophet saw upon the throne, to be the King Eternal.

It was in the year of this king’s death, that Isaiah had his vision. God, at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets; sometimes by dreams, sometimes by a audible voice, and sometimes by visions, as here to Isaiah, and afterwards to Ezekiel by the river Chebar. It is not to be supposed, that the eyes of the prophet were so strengthened by a supernatural power, as that he saw into the third heaven, at so vast a distance; but he had a representation of the light & glory of it, conveyed to his mind by some sensible images, and of the Lord sitting upon a throne there, not like king Solomon’s, a throne of ivory, and overlaid with the purest gold, but a sapphire throne, transcendently bright and glorious, above all competition or control, and commanding over all other thrones.

There are several important articles which might come under our consideration here, as the heads of my present discourse:

As,

I. The person whom the prophet saw thus exalted and dignified.

II. The import of his advancement, or the ideas it serves to convey to us.

III. His qualifications for his exalted station.

IV. The extent of his dominion.

V. The nature and form of his administration, &c.

But I must confine myself to the two first of these heads.

I. Then, I am to consider who it is that the prophet saw upon the throne.

It could not be any mere man, or an angel, assuming a human form. It is the place of the angelical orders to stand about the throne, and minister unto it; and this is honor enough for them. It was a divine person, the Son of God, the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. Some think it was the first of the divine persons who was exhibited to the prophet, and that we read of a like appearance of his, Daniel 7:9. I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool, his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels [like] burning fire, et cetera. But I rather think this to be understood of Christ, who is called the ancient of days, because of his immutable and eternal divinity, and that it is a mistake to assert that the Father, or the Holy Ghost ever appeared in such a low and diminutive form; but the Son often occasionally did so, for he was to be incarnate, [for] his glory, and dwell among us. Thus, he appeared to Abraham; and in the same shape, upon the burning mount, at the giving of the law; and, in the like manner to Isaiah; for so the vision is explained, John 12:41. These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory and spake of him: All which appearances were undoubtedly designed to prefigure his assumption of the nature of man, and its subsequent advancement to the throne of God, the authority of a prince and a judge there.

Whether he assumed the form of that individual body he appeared in afterwards, is an inquiry more speculative than practical.

To set upon the throne of his Father was the glory he had with him before all worlds, and which he had a natural right to: And it is also the glory the Father promised him as the reward of our Redemption, Isaiah 53:12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. Psalm 16:2. Thou wilt shew me the path of life, in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. In the prospect of this recompence he engaged, suffered the cross, and despised the shame, and is now thus highly exalted above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet. The apostle John long since beheld him in the same place and posture, Revelation 5:1, with all the shining myriads about him, and praising of him.

It is then an exalted Jesus the prophet saw, and I am now speaking of. He that was made lower than the angels, is now crowned with glory and honor. And such an high priest the Christian has, who is set down on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. I hope you will all hear the report with pleasure. I am sure, if thro’ grace we arrive at the vision that comes after, it will never tire us. Christ upon the throne is the attractive object of every eye, and engages every heart, angels behold and wonder, and saints adore the risen God: His throne is guarded with legions of blessed spirits, who with united voices proclaim his excellencies and shout his praises. They did not disdain to sing his birth to humble shepherds, and now with joy celebrate the glories of his exaltation. And the redeemed and perfected spirits unite in the consort, Revelation 19, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluja, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Thus, the saints are joyful in glory, the children of Zion [are] joyful in their king, they sing with loud Hosannah’s to the son of David, the vaults of heaven echo with songs of praise, and the triumph shall never end: Blessed are they that dwell in thy courts, they will be still praising thee. Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, from a low and humble state on earth, is advanced [to] the highest seat of dignity, and sustains a post of the utmost grandeur in the heavenly world: He sets upon a throne of majesty, that commands reverence and honor from us who are now worshipping at his feet, and from all intelligent beings.

He sets upon a throne of grace, to which we may come boldly. The consideration of his majesty might make us afraid to draw near and speak to him: This effect it had upon the prophet, when he beheld the glory of the Lord, Then, said I, wo is me, I am undone: But he is exalted upon a mercy-seat, with a rainbow (an emblem of mercy) about his head: This invites the sinner to him, even to his seat, to lay open his wants, complain of his grievances, and implore his compassion and help. He sets upon a throne of Grace to give out pardons to humble supplicants, and communicate blessings to the poor and needy; and he is as ready to give as we can be to ask them.

He sets upon a throne of government, giving out his laws, and demanding our obedience, and observing what regards we pay to them, that he may reward, or punish us accordingly: For the throne of judgment is also his; and at his word we either stand or fall.

Having thus spoken of the person, the prophet saw upon the throne of glory, high and lifted up:

I proceed to consider,

II. The import of the vision, or the ideas it serves to convey to us.

And it certainly includes all that is great and good. The subject is truly sublime, and full of mystery, and we may never expect to comprehend it while in our present state of imperfection, but the advantages of it to us, are surprisingly great and various.

Christ upon the throne in our nature, what can be more delightful to hear and contemplate? And how great and boundless the expectations it raises in us? He is now ready to all acts of care about his people, they are ever under his eye, and within reach of his arm; he is a sun to enlighten, a shield to defend, and a fountain to supply them: What more is needful to encourage the active Christian, to revive the drooping saint, or to astonish the daring sinner? Christ’s advancement is the believer’s assurance, that he shall live and reign with him in that blessed world, where they shall hunger no more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat; for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

To be particular here,

1. This exaltation of CHRIST speaks the transcendent dignity and excellency of his person, that he is worthy of the throne he sets on, and qualified for all the great designs of his advancement.

It would be a dishonor to the wisdom of God to place him there, if he was a mean person, or an insufficient ruler: It speaks his joint-interest in the Father, the eternal head of government, and oneness with him in nature and glory: For God never did, or will receive any other into the throne, to share the dignities and prerogatives of it: To which of the angels said he at any time, set thou at my right hand? Nothing like it was ever spoken to any of them. They are the first and purest productions of divine light, above man in his original state of integrity and perfection; but infinite descents below the Son of God, and pay their joint homage to him in the lowest postures of humility and reverence. Their wisdom is folly; their power, weakness; and their holiness, impurity, compared with his. This vast disproportion they themselves do readily acknowledge, and are ashamed and blush at the stupidity of some men, in debasing him almost to a level with themselves: The excellency of Christ infinitely transcends all angelical perfection; some faint rays of this glory were visible to his disciples, Thro’ his veil of flesh: We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, John 1:14. But how little of it appeared to them, in respect of what the prophet saw, when He was sitting upon his throne, with all the celestial inhabitants about him, and sparkling in all the bright rays of the Father’s glory, and his own. The prophet Ezekiel had a like vision of him, clothed with robes of dazzling light. But after all, we may not suppose that the fulness of glory was visible to either of them: It was not the splendor of unveiled majesty, but the likeness of his glory; the fulness of it, is light inaccessible and cannot be viewed by mortal eyes. Glorified spirits have much brighter visions of him. The soul in its exalted state shall see the king in his beauty, all the perfections of that infinitely great and glorious nature in their brightness and purity, the effect whereof will be the highest admiration, ardent love, and an eternal spring of universal praise.

2. It speaks the utmost grandeur.

To ascend a throne is the very top of preferment; flesh and blood can rise no higher: The most aspiring tempers do but aim at this, and have no notion of a superior advancement; and it is but here and there one, that can grasp the royal dignity. This honor was conferred upon Christ at his ascension, according to the prediction, Psalm 47:5. God is gone up with a shout; the Lord with the sound of a trumpet; sing praises to God; sing praises to our king, for he is the king of all the earth: The Lord reigneth over the heathen, he sitteth upon the throne of his holiness, the shields of the earth belong unto him, he is greatly exalted. He promised but little grandeur when he was stretched upon a cross, the sport of men, and the mark of violence. Man thought the meanest honor too much for him, but in God’s esteem all the glory of heaven was not too great: When he was arraigned at the bar, he intimated that he should by and by ascend a throne, and head an empire comprehending both heaven and earth, and they should hereafter see him coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, attended with all the holy angels, to take vengeance upon his enemies: They entertained the report, (as we may imagine) with a disdainful smile; thinking it no better than the wilds of enthusiasm, for so mean a person to challenge so exalted honors: He was born in a stable, begun his life with brutes, and ended it with malefactors; but now is the Lord of hosts, principalities and powers: oh surprising change, and beyond all imagination to them by whose wicked hands he was crucified and slain! here he was despised of men; there he is adored by angels: here in contempt and mockery he was crowned with thorns; but now he wears the crown of glory: here he was nailed to a cross; but there he sets upon a throne high and lifted up: here he groaned under the weight of sin and the curse; there he triumphs: here he had no form or comeliness; but now he shines in all the beauties and glories of the god-head, and has the most profound respect and veneration paid him by the infinite numbers about him.

3. It assures us of the accomplishment of our redemption.

The Father that chose him to this work, knew him equal to it, He did not lay the help of his perishing creature upon a broken reed, but upon one that was mighty. The burden was too heavy for an angel’s shoulders, but the Son was able to bear it, he could both fulfil the precept and suffer the penalty of the violated law; and so, discharge the debt we owed to inflexible justice. The Father, by an audible voice from the excellent glory, testified his acceptance of what he had done: And the Son appeals to him, when leaving the world, that he had glorified him on the earth, and finished the work he had given him to do; and, according to the eternal compact between them, supplicates for that glory he enjoyed before the world was, which was as readily given him, as it was asked for, as the psalmist by spirit of prophecy declares, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, Psalm 2:6. He raised him from the dishonors of the grave, and placed him at his own right hand; and the grandeur he now possesses, is an incontestable evidence, as of the dignity of his person, so of the sufficiency of his sacrifice; for if he had not accomplished the work he engaged in, but it had come imperfect from his hand, he had not been thus advanced, but left eternally under the power of death. His resurrection assures us, that the whole debt was paid, the thundering law silenced, and the justice of God has no further demands to make upon us. We have nothing to do now in way of satisfaction; our whole work is to believe in, adore and love a once crucified, but now enthroned Jesus. He is gone to heaven, as he came from it on our account, and is making intercession for transgressors, pleading from a throne for us, with arguments rolled in blood, and therefore prevalent. And how numerous, how rich and comprehensive are the blessings conveyed down to us, from the fountain of love and mercy, by his means? And how much greater those we are the joyful expectants of? What is it that God reconciled is not willing to do for us? If we miss of pardon and grace here, salvation and glory hereafter, it is our own fault. The apostle’s argument is strong and convincing, that seeing God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Romans 8:32.

4. It intimates to us, that he is open to the view of all the celestial inhabitants.

A Throne is the most public station, and the person upon it affords an advantage for a general notice; no one is debarred from vision, but every eye sees him. Here the believer has sometimes a glimpse of his glory, and his love thro’ the thick medium of ordinances; but this is personal and secret: but there he exhibits himself to all at once; they behold with open face the glory of the Lord; and as the sun sometimes forms its likeness in a cloud, so they are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory. There’s no need of any artifice, of taking the advantage of rising ground, or of climbing the sycamore-tree to behold him, for he is not hid in a throng, nor is the vision transient, but he is fixed upon a throne, and always to be seen. And with what pleasure and admiration do they behold him?

The company of prophets and apostles, the noble army of martyrs, the general assembly of believers and church of the first-born, will afford an additional joy; but it is Jesus the mediator that fills the soul with delight and satisfaction, and is infinitely more to it than all heaven besides. It is the favor he demands for all his redeemed, that they may be where he is, to behold his glory: And this is the believers ardent wish, and perpetual desire; and the grant of it is sure. It is given in promise to them, they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy; they shall sit with me on my throne.

5. And I know come to what I chiefly design.

It denotes his actual government over all things. A Throne speaks dignity and authority: and all power is his both in heaven and on earth. The Government of the world is upon his shoulder; and his name wonderful, counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the prince of peace, of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever: These are some of the magnificent and lofty expressions of the holy men of God concerning the dominion of Christ, speaking as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; and after this pompous manner the prophets have all along described the glories of his Kingdom.

The ancient heathen confined the dominion of God to the supreme heavens, over the angelical orders, and would not allow that he had any concern in the affairs of this lower world, the government of kingdoms, states and empires; but the oracles of truth instruct us better. It is true, that is the most noble part of his dominion, but he is said to look down from heaven; not as a bare spectator of the actions of men, but as their Lord and Judge, that he may render to every man according to his works. Fortune or chance has nothing to do, takes no place in the world, except in the absurd imaginations of men: The prophet Ezekiel’s wheels don’t move and roll at random, but under the direction of the cherubim.

The government of Christ is a discreet and wise authority, which none can justly fault: The wisest politicians, in their most deliberate acts, are often guilty of mistakes; and, when they see the event of things, wish they had ordered otherwise: But there is no imprudence or injustice in Christ, in his whole management. Some of his dispensations have the face of absolute sovereignty; but it is because our faculties are not strong enough to see into the amazing depths of wisdom contained in them: Others may seem to us disorderly and confused, though there is accountable reason for them. As to one event and another, we may say and admire as Romans 11:33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! Our Lord Christ, in the execution of his Regal office, is represented as mounted upon a Cherub, riding upon the heavens, and flying upon the wings of the wind: And the wonders of his providence are expressed in terms most sublime, both as to his acts of terror and vengeance upon his enemies, and of help to his friends: When he arises out of his place the earth trembles, the foundations of the hills are shaken, because he is wroth; there goes a smoak out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoureth.

When his people are in distress, He rideth upon the heavens for their help, and in his excellency on the sky; and the stars in their courses fight their battles against Sisera. The clouds are his chariots, from them he discharges his thunders, to the terror and amazement of mankind; and by them he waters the earth, and makes it verdant and fruitful, adorns it with the beautiful prospects it now affords us: And at his pleasure he shifts the scene, changes the face of the earth, strips it of his gay attire, and puts everything around us in a dying posture, to remind us that we ourselves are so: By the breath of God the frost is given, and the breadth of the waters straitened, and he seals up the hands of every man: And then he operates under the earth, where no eye of man can penetrate, or his hand reach, and makes the pillars of the world tremble: He shakes it with the same ease that we can move a finger, or wave a feather, either from natural causes, or by an immediate act of power, we can’t tell which, nor how; at this our hearts tremble and are moved out of their place.

The great and sudden changes in public affairs; the revolutions of states and kingdoms, which surprise and astonish us, are the effects of a designing mind, of an all-wise cause. The various conditions and circumstances of men, that some are prosperous, others adverse; some rich, and others poor; some in dignity, while others are low and level with the earth; is not the result of mere chance, but the design of Christ, and for wise ends. The beauty and glory of the whole consists very much in the variety of its parts: And the qualifications of men, for the different stations and parts they are to act, in the rank of rational beings, is from Christ the fountain of wisdom.

Thus, Christ upon the throne is the Lord of all, and has authority and power sufficient to govern all by himself, and without the instrumentality of men or angels; but he is pleased to make use of them in the conduct of his affairs both civil and ecclesiastical. As to his government by angels we know but little of it: They are invisible agents in the services they do us; but his rule by men is evident and indisputable; for he has said, Judges and officers shalt thou make in all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people: and the civil ruler is called the minister of God. The distinction of king and subject, rulers and ruled, is not the contrivance of designing men, but of divine ordination: ‘Tis Christ upon the throne that has appointed magistracy, that advances men to superior or subordinate offices, and accomplishes them for government; and has declared to us for what end he doth it, and accordingly what the people over whom they preside may expect from them, and they from him as they behave and manage in their respective spheres; and also what regard he will have us pay to them.

And here I shall be particular as the occasion leads me.

1st then. Magistracy is an institution of Christ upon the throne.

This is an assertion that stands in the strongest light in the sacred oracles. The wisdom of God thought it highly necessary for man in his apostate condition, whatever it might have been if he had kept his primitive state, and retained his original purity and glory; and therefore, imposed it not as a burden, but a blessing upon mankind; for what is or can be more beneficial to the world? ‘Tis the very life and soul of humane society; without it, what but perpetual discords and contentions might be expected? Oppression, injustice, and the most flagitious enormities would soon lift up their heads and grow rampant, and the whole earth become a theatre of the most bloody tragedies. An ungoverned society of men would be no better than a herd of savage beasts, worrying and devouring one another: To prevent this confusion, God has instituted civil government to be a guard upon our persons and lives, and defend us from the violence and injuries we might be exposed to from men more crafty and powerful than ourselves.

It was an unhappy juncture when there was no king in Israel to restrain the boisterous lusts and headstrong passions of the people; but every man did that which was right in his own eyes; libertinism and licentiousness, idolatry and a practical contempt of God, his laws and worship, broke in like a flood upon the nation, and exposed them to the angry resentments of heaven. Where all authoritative & coercive power is taken off, men will soon think that where there is no law, there is no transgression, and make it evident that it was not so much the dread of hell, as of a halter, that restrained them from the greatest villainies.

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